Sun Buys Cobalt
R. Krause - September 29, 2000

Event Summary

September 19, 2000 - Sun Microsystems, Inc. has said it will acquire Cobalt Networks in a stock-swap deal valued at roughly $2 Billion. Sun is a leading manufacturer of Unix-based computers, while Cobalt is a leading manufacturer of computers known as 'server appliances'. Server appliances are specialized variations of the servers commonly used as enterprise computing systems in a number of companies. Appliances focus on performing specific tasks, such as Web caching, and avoid the computing 'overhead' required to be a general-purpose computer. Under the terms of the deal, Cobalt shareholders will swap each of their shares for 0.5 shares of Sun stock. The acquisition is expected to be completed during Sun's second quarter of fiscal 2001, which ends December 31, 2000, subject to governmental approvals, Cobalt shareholder approval, and customary closing conditions.Current Cobalt products will be sold by Sun's sales force, after the acquisition is complete. Market Impact..